Friends in the Forest
by FandomsAreLoveFandomsAreLife
Summary: Albus and Scorpius have been kidnapped by Death Eaters wanting revenge on Harry Potter. Rose, being the only witness of the kidnapping, must set out to find them. Will she get there in time? [Rated T for torture] [A tiny bit of Scorose and some Rose/Albus bonding.] [Oneshot]


**I BOUGHT IT! I BOUGHT THE CURSED CHILD! YESS! [MAJOR** ** _Harry Potter and the Cursed Child_** **SPOILERS BELOW]**

* * *

Rose sat, hunched over, outside giant, beautiful mahogany doors. She could hear the conversation coming from behind them.

 _"They've... disappeared? This is the third time!"_

 _"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, but this time there are signs of a struggle. Torn curtains, broken windows, even a little blood."_

 _"What?!"_

 _"I must ask you to remain seated, Mrs. Potter. We do not know much yet."_

 _"Had they been acting strangely, before they disappeared? Missing classes, whispering to each other a lot, et cetera?"_

 _"On the contrary, Mr. Potter, we asked their friends and they all said that Albus and Scorpius had been acting very normal. No signs of distress."_

 _"So they have been kidnapped."_

 _"Most likely. But that does not help us much. The biggest questions are: Who kidnapped them? Where are they? What do they want?"_

Rose couldn't take it anymore. Her cousin, the cousin she had known since she was born, her best friend when they were six, had been kidnapped. Along with the cute, awkward, sweet boy who had asked her out. No one knew where to find them.

Rose curled up into a ball and started to sob quietly. _She_ knew. But she had no idea where the kidnapper was. Even if she did know, Rose wasn't sure whether she would actually have the courage to go out and find them. At that moment, she didn't feel proud to be the child of two of the bravest people of the century. She felt ashamed that she wasn't courageous enough to be called their daughter.

She knew of the events of last year. She knew that Albus and Scorpius went back in time right after they did it the first time, because they thought Rose was important enough to risk messing up reality completely.

That did it. They saved Rose, so Rose had to pay back the favor and save them. She shoved herself off the floor, and proceeded to sprint away from McGonagall's office. Rose charged into James' dormitory, the bright scarlet and gold attacking her eyes, and rooted around in his trunk, grabbing a silky, silvery cloak, and pulled it over her head.

Rose didn't know where the Death Eaters with her friends were, but goddamn it, she was going to find them.

They were probably in the Forbidden Forest. It was big, dark, dangerous and close to Hogwarts. As Rose ran through it, she recalled every memory that involved Albus or Scorpius.

 _You smell like fresh flowers and fresh... bread._

 _That's quite scary._

 _Okay, Scorpion King._

She didn't realize she was crying until she felt a small sob building inside of her. _They're not dead yet, they're not dead yet._

What if they were? It would be all her fault. It was _Rose_ that witnessed the Death Eaters break the window and climb into her cousin's dormitory. It was _Rose_ that screamed as her friends tried and failed to fight them. It was _Rose_ that stood there, paralysed, as Albus and Scorpius were knocked unconscious with their own textbooks.

It was _Rose_ who was too scared and guilty to tell anyone this.

Why was she being so self-pitying? It wasn't her that was kidnapped, but there she was, whining about her own uselessness. This was her chance to redeem herself!

There was almost no light filtering through the tree branches now. Her ears were being attacked by the constant sound of hissing, hooting and snapping branches.

It was so dark she almost ran into a herd of centaurs. Rose skidded to a halt just in time, but unfortunately she stepped on the hem of the invisibility cloak. It slipped off of her and landed in a heap on the grass and brambles.

Only the nearest centaur, far away from the group, heard. He turned around, and Rose saw that he was kind-looking, with a curly brown beard and sad eyes. He gently clopped over, and studied her, like he knew what trouble she was in.

"What brings you here, child?" The bearded centaur had a surprisingly old voice. It was strangely _tired_ sounding too, like life was wearing him down.

"I'm just-just passing by." Rose stammered, remembering how protective and territorial centaurs could be. "I won't do anything."

He looked around at the other centaurs, then lowered his voice. "I assume you are looking for the two boys?"

"Yes, h-how did you know?"

The old centaur gave her a grim smile. "I saw two individuals in black cloaks pass by, with two unconscious teenage boys floating above them. It was quite a frightening sight."

"But how did you know _I_ was looking for them?"

"You have that look on your face. The look of a hero. I have seen it too many times."

"Thank you. I'm... I'm Rose." The centaur smiled.

"You can call me Chiron. Go, they went in that direction." He said, pointing towards the darkest part of the forest.

"Thank you!" Rose whispered, pulling the beautiful invisibility cloak over her. She had begun to walk quickly towards the direction Chiron had gestured to, but she was interrupted one last time.

"Rose? Be careful. A hero's fate is rarely happy." And with that, the bearded centaur turned around and galloped back to the center of the herd. In a blink of an eye, he was gone.

...

Rose was half a mile away when she heard the screams. She was bleeding from all the scrapes and grazes that were sprinkled generously all over her body, she was exhausted, but most of all, she was terrified. She would have to be too late by now, wouldn't she? It's not like the Death Eaters were waiting for anything. What if she just got there, then they killed her?

All this thinking wasn't going to help her.

But when Rose heard the almost inhuman shrieks of agony and anguish, at least she knew that Scorpius and Albus were still alive.

...

Once Rose stumbled into the clearing, for a moment she was disoriented. First of all there wasn't any trees overhead, so the light could hit her full in the face after being in the dark for so long. Secondly, the sight in front of her was too much for her mind to comprehend at first.

Albus and Scorpius were tied together, back-to-back, on the grass. Albus was slumped over, clearly unconscious, while Scorpius was still yelling in pain. Neither had a mark on their body, but that didn't mean anything.

Two figures stood with their backs to Rose. They were to be shrouded in long, flowing black cloaks. They seemed to be arguing.

"It's been too long, Malum! Potter isn't coming!" A feminine voice exclaimed.

"We're in no rush, so I don't see why we can't keep them alive a little long-" The, much calmer, male voice was cut off.

"They've had enough time to plan an ambush! We were counting on Potter being impulsive, as usual!"

"I must ask you to calm down, Soith."

" _Just kill them!_ "

"Fine, if that's what makes you happy. _Avada Ke-_ "

" _STUPEFY!_ " Rose screamed.

The spurt of scarlet light hit Malom full in the face as he turned around. Soith scrambled for her wand, but Rose beat her to it. " _Petrificus Totalus!_ "

And with that, Soith fell face first into the dirt.

Rose pointed her wand at the thick rope that held Albus and Scorpius in place. She used the Severing Charm, though her hands were shaking so badly with exhaustion that she sliced open a shallow laceration in Albus's tricep. Not that he could feel it.

Barely seeming to realise he was free, Scorpius lifted his head slowly. Rose could see the shattered pieces of his sanity swirling around in his eyes, but she knew he would recover. He was incredibly durable that way. So she reassured him.

"Everything is going to be okay."

...

 **Holy shit, this is my first oneshot! *Celebratory dance* But I do love The Cursed Child so, so much. Scorpius was my favorite character, obviously. But there were many, many plot twists.**

 **~FALFAL (P.S. Did anyone get the Percy Jackson reference?)**


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